killingness

killingness

English

Etymology

killing +‎ -ness

Noun

killingness (uncountable)

1. (dated) The quality of being devastatingly attractive.
   • 1840, Robert Bremner, Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (volume 1, page 314)

     […] especially when these showy garments were set off with a large bunch of flowers in the hand, or on the breast, which most of the young fellows displayed with conscious killingness.

   • 1854, John Doran, Habits and Men (page 135)

     […] and they daily sent each other little billets, remarkable for the aristocratic contempt which they showed for orthography; and little patterns of head-dresses, quite as remarkable for their grace and "killingness."